Cross-country walker gathers messages for president

By Andy PowellTimes Staff Writer

Wednesday

Sep 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM

B.J. Hill has worn out six pairs of shoes since March.That’s when he started his walk across America from San Francisco. He likely will wear out more before he reaches Boston in December.But Hill said the worn-out soles and the time he has spent will be worth it for the comments he has collected from everyday Americans that he hopes to give to the next president.Hill has walked through 13 states so far. He is collecting messages from people, and he hopes to be able to present them to the newly elected president early next year. He also hopes to publish the messages in a book.“I think they’re important for the nation to see,” he said. He said he would like to see the messages stored in a presidential library.He said the messages are what people are saying they want the president to do for the country. “This is what people want and what people need and what people are saying,” Hill said, “in their own words, not filtered by the Gallup Poll or not filtered by CNN. “This is in their own words, in their own writing, in their own spelling.” Hill said if he gets to meet with the president, he hopes the president will look through the messages “and be inspired to do more for the country.”He is working with one of his senators from Massachusetts to arrange a meeting with the new president.Hill was at the Gadsden Public Library Tuesday afternoon resting from his walk and meeting with people discussing his trip and urging them to write a message.Dee Bridgeland of Rainbow City said she wrote a message to the next president to wish him good luck. She said she also told the president everyone needs a job.Craig Scott, who works at the library, said his message was “fix the economy. That’s No. 1. Good luck.”In 2006, Hill walked across Massachusetts, a distance of about 300 miles, which took him about a month.He collected messages and presented them to then-Gov.-elect Deval Patrick. He said those messages can be viewed on his Web site.Hill said he will go through about 24 states on his trip.“I think it’s important for people in Alabama, for example, to see what’s important to people in Wyoming,” he said. “How much do you know about Wyoming?”As far as financing the trip, Hill said he had a little savings to start with and has gotten a few donations along the way. He said people have bought him meals.Hill spends the night in a tent he carries in his 30-pound backpack or on friends’ couches he has found through the Web site couchsurfers.com. He also has stayed in a few hotels.Hill has been through California, Utah, South Dakota, Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.Hill said he could have taken a more direct route from San Francisco to Boston. However, he wanted to include the South in the trip.In Alabama, he is traveling along U.S. Highway 278 to Atlanta.He has traveled about 2,900 miles so far.Hill is walking 15 to 25 miles a day and is averaging about 3 miles an hour.“I’m really taken aback about how friendly people are here in Alabama,” Hill said. “People are real receptive about what I’m doing.”He said he was walking near Walnut Grove when someone stopped and gave him a bottle of water.“That was great because I was getting kind of low and there was nowhere to fill up,” Hill said.“He just rolled down the window and gave me this thing of water which I really needed.” Hill said that doesn’t happen every day, “but when it does, it makes my day.”In Gadsden, city officials arranged for him to spend the night at a cabin at Noccalula Falls. Library personnel planned to take him to supper.Hill said he isn’t carrying a sign that asks people to send a message to the president, but he does have a sign on his backpack that says WalkAmerica2008.com, which is his Web site that gives information about his walk.On the site, there is information about the trip and a blog Hill is doing.He is also “Twittering” messages along the trip.Hill said one journal was filled by the time he got to St. Louis, and he shipped that volume home to Boston.He has accumulated about 200 additional messages since then.Hill spent about three months planning the trip. When he was younger, he read the book, “A Walk Across America” and thought that would be fun to do before he “settled down.”Hill has taught English as a second language in Massachusetts and also taught in China and in Afghanistan.He said he never doubts making the trip.“I’ve got thousands of messages, and I can’t just give up,” Hill said.

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